The wind was picking up by the time I went to bed last night. I could hear the neighbor’s chimes before I fell asleep, and again at times I happened to wake up.
Wind’s were not so fierce in town to make falling trees seem like a concern, but it was definitely blowing, and Crescent Bay was full of white caps. The rain did not start until later in the morning.
Curious about the swan question from yesterday, I went for drive before lunch to check out their normal hangouts. I counted 24 at Swan Lake and three at Eagle Way Beach. I’m guessing these were the 27 reported at the lake yesterday. In addition there were 7 and Starrigavan. It looks like my highest count at Starrigavan last fall was 24 in late November, but I cannot remember if any were already at the park or lake by that time.
Things were rough out at the buoy, with recorded wave heights peaking at 29.5ft just before 1pm. They remained in the 20s (mostly upper 20s) thoughout the remainder of the day.
Although the waves were not too big coming in to Sandy Beach, they were breaking large out on the rocks closer to the sound. The wind carried the finer spray of quickly.
From Sea Mart I was taking pictures of the waves breaking on rocks when I notice what appeared to be an immense break further out. Just barely visible with the spray-filled air near the water’s surface, I was able to get pictures of it. While editing the photos this evening, I realized I am not entirely sure which rocks I am photographing. I know there’s a handful of them that I take pictures of, but I’ve not done the work of narrowing it down to be sure which one is which (as well which are above water all the time, and which might just be exposed at lower tides). In particular, I was surprised by the distant large break, and am now curious where that was happening. I do not think it was as far out as Vitskari, but I’m not sure.
My sense is the number of gulls around town is starting to increase. There still are not large flocks, but I saw a couple of groups loafing at Starrigavan, and another at Eagle Way Beach.
There were well over 200 crows on the lawn at Sheldon Jackson quad. They were pulling at the grass. I have seen crows that appeared to be foraging on lawns before, but the way they were pulling up grass is something I’ve tended to associate more wih ravens. I do not remember where I heard (learned about?) it, but it’s my understanding they are probably going after cranefly larvae.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
